Myanmar says UN findings on human rights lack credibility

Source: Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s government on Tuesday rejected two reports presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council that concluded it committed extreme human rights violations, probably amounting to crimes under international law, in its repression of several minority groups.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said the reports presented Monday by the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar and U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee lacked credibility.

The report of the Fact-Finding Mission, chaired by former Indonesian Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, was based on hundreds of accounts by victims and witnesses of reported human rights violations, as well as satellite imagery, photographs and video footage.

The mission’s members were barred by Myanmar’s government from entering the country, so its researchers interviewed refugees and others in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand.